School fields hundreds of angry calls over Charlie Kirk comments falsely linked to employee

ELKHORN, Wis. (WTMJ) - A Wisconsin school district is at the center of a controversy over misinformation after a fake Facebook post wrongly linked an associate principal to comments about the death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

Kirk was fatally shot last week as he was speaking at an event at Utah Valley University.

Now, the school district is being flooded with hundreds of angry, even threatening, messages.

While the post was fake, district officials say the fallout has been very real.

The parking lot at the Elkhorn Area School District was empty on Saturday, but the answering machines were full.

“Just overnight to this morning, there was a total of 560 voicemails just on district mainline,” said Elkhorn Area School District Superintendent Jason Tadlock.

The district’s superintendent said those calls were all in response to a Facebook post that Tadlock says wrongly linked an associate principal to comments about Kirk’s death.

“I got a call from West Side Elementary School that they were in a panic all of a sudden; Facebook comment section on the page started getting all these really hateful, angry messages,” Tadlock described.

According to Tadlock, someone took Cindy Rehberg’s photo and put it under another person’s post.

The result was a flood of messages, many vulgar, calling for her to be fired.

Rehberg spoke out on Saturday; she said she didn’t make that post, and the district defends her.

“My tech department started looking into it. The Facebook page belongs to an individual in Williams Bay,” Tadlock said. “Cindy is well-respected by her colleagues. She’s kind-hearted, goes out of her way to help kids, help families.”

As the district navigates hundreds of messages, they even asked law enforcement to stand guard at the school.

“Had parents that have contacted us very concerned and afraid, just seeing what’s going on in the world and knowing that there’s a lot of unstable people,” Tadlock said.

His point: a post can be fake, but the impact can be very real.

“Because I’ve seen social media cause things to spin out of control before people get the facts,” Tadlock said. “So, before we jump to conclusions, before we throw people under the bus, before we try to end people’s careers, follow a proper process. Be calm, be rational and look into it.”

Tadlock said they are considering taking legal action against the person who made the fake post.

The assistant principal issued a statement reiterating that she did not make the post about Kirk, adding she has nothing but sympathy for his family and loved ones at this time.